We Still Are, Penn State

Penn State football will be affected by the NCAA sanctions. Limited scholarships will result in a lack of depth and talent. There’s no avoiding it. Not being able to offer recruits the ability to play for a championship until 2016 will push away some competitors to other schools. But Penn State is still Penn State. In terms of football, O’Brien can still sell recruits on the stature of Penn State, the program, the place and its power. He can still point to the world-class academics and the amazing surroundings and the state of the art facilities and the vast exposure and the alumni which are everywhere and the talented student body and the lifelong contacts.

He can still pitch Penn State, proudly and in full.

The recruit that won’t go to here because he doesn’t like the prospect of being banned from, say, the TicketCity or TaxSlayer.com Bowl probably wasn’t made for Penn State anyway. The one that understands the opportunity at hand will make for a greater Nittany Lion, regardless of the win-loss record.

That, no matter the headlines, no matter the ensuing criminal trials, no matter the forever attacks on Louis Freeh and the Board of Trustees and the NCAA and anyone who has accepted them and begun looking forward, is what is playing out in Happy Valley. The school sought closure and they got a good measure of it.

A winning, exciting team is simply highlighting what is obvious to anyone who strolls through this still remarkable campus and witnesses the forever energy of the students and faculty and staff. Even on the afternoon of the Sandusky sentencing.

You can say the big-game Saturday against Ohio State should help Penn State continue to move on.

The truth is most of this place has already.